THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK What is Nationality and Citizenship? The terms ‘nationality’ and ‘citizenship’ are often used interchangeably.9 ‘Nationality’ is a term used to describe an individual’s link to the state (or ‘country’) in the context of international law.10 ‘Citizenship’ is the term that is usually used in a domestic context, for example in domestic law.11 ‘For us, being stateless means we don’t have any country or documentation. We feel very distressed about this. When our son was granted Australian citizenship we were extremely happy. It was a big deal, because we have never known in our lives what it is like to be a citizen.’ — Muhammad and Sumaiya, stateless Rohingya parents to three children Childhood Statelessness There are estimated to be between 10–15 million stateless people in the world, a third of which are children.12 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that a child is born into statelessness at least every 10 minutes.13 Stateless children can face barriers to a range of essential human rights by virtue of having no nationality, including access to education and health care.14 What is Statelessness? A stateless person is someone who does not have a nationality of any country. This means they are not recognised as ‘belonging’ to any country.7 The international legal definition of a ‘stateless person’ is ‘a person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law.’8 ‘Our eldest daughter Noor is very studious, and hopes to be a doctor when she grows up. This would not have been possible for her in our home country where she was born.’ ‘To be stateless means to have no country. This is very hard – and I feel deeply sad about it. I know people who aren’t allowed to study or work because they are stateless – I worry about this for my daughter.’ — Muhammad and Sumaiya, stateless Rohingya parents to three children — Aisha, stateless Rohingya mother of one The Legal Framework 10 The Legal Framework 11